


a heart is a heavy burden

by f1vebyf1ve



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle, Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Howl's Moving Castle AU, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Minor Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, No beta: we die like men, Protective Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Witch Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Wizard Adrien Agreste, a little bit angsty, basically just howl's moving castle with the names switched lol, i hate felix so much so hes in this as a side villain kinda, i just really despise felix lol, i would say this is most like marichat or ladynoir, mostly fluffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26313763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/f1vebyf1ve/pseuds/f1vebyf1ve
Summary: Adrien Agreste is the most feared wizard in all of France. With a wink and a word, he can destroy anything and devour anyone's heart.Marinette Dupain-Cheng thinks she must be the most boring girl in Paris. While her friend Alya is working at the local newspaper, she's stuck piping flowers in her parents' bakery. When Queen Wasp, a dangerous witch, transforms her into an elderly woman, she takes off to Adrien's moving castle. Surely, he's not as evil as he seems, right?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette Dupein-Chang stood in front of the counter, icing a chocolate cake. Supplies were scattered across her disorganized workspace. Jars of icing piled up in the corner of the table, a knife tittered precariously on the edge, blade’s end pointed towards her, a rolling pin rolled around the counter. Flour coated Marinette’s apron and covered her pale hands. Pots of wildflowers and lavender rested on the window above the counter. Cobblestone shops and blue skies were visible through the window. Light from outside filled the kitchen. Shelves of frosting, sheet paper, fondant, and sprinkles adorned the side of the room. Marinette bit her lip as she piped tulips on top, focusing as hard as she could.

“You’re turning out quite lovely,” Marinette said to the cake, almost subconsciously, squinting her eyes as she worked on the small details.

“Take care, darling,” Sabine Cheng, Marinette’s mother said, kissing her on the forehead.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to the boutique with me?" Sabine asked.

Marinette shook her head. "Sorry, mama, I promised Alya I'd visit her at the newspaper,"

"You're such a good friend, Marinette," Sabine put on her coat.

"You're too kind," Marinette looked up from her cake and smiled.

"Well, I'm off now, hon," She took a parasol off the rack.

" _Au revoir_ , mama." Marinette waved, as Sabine walked out the door.

Marinette finished her tulip and put away her supplies. "Don't get too frozen, while I'm gone." She said as she placed the cake in the freezer. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette walked out of the shop and onto the paved streets of Paris. She flipped the open sign on the door to closed and went on her way to The Paris Daily. She walked with a pep in her step. Seeing Alya was always the highlight of her week.

The streets buzzed with chatter, people pointed and yelled. "He's back!" A girl shouted.

Marinette looked up to see what the buzz was all about and saw the gray mechanical castle walking in the distance. It was made up of machinery and brick houses, with legs like a bird's. Though it was far away, Marinette swore she could see a face on it, built of junk and metal. It was a beautiful thing, a thing surrounded by an aura of awe and mystery. As quickly as it appeared, it vanished in the distance.

Marinette reached the trolly station and sat down, her feet beginning to ache. A group of girls stood huddled around the station.

"Do you think he'll eat your heart?" Marinette overhead the first girl whisper. She was a tall girl, dressed in black, with dark hair. She gestured mysteriously, a wide teasing grin on her face.

"I sure hope so. I've heard he's rather handsome." Her friend, a skinny ginger, replied.

"It's not funny, Alix! He's a killer! He could strike at any time!" The third friend, a small blonde girl with short hair said.

"Who knows? Maybe he'll snatch you up and devour you whole!" Alix, the ginger, laughed.

"Stop! It's not a joke!" The blonde said, trembling ever so slightly.

"Maybe, he's right behind you!" Alix pointed behind the blonde. She jumped backward, glancing over her shoulders.

"Oh come on, leave Rose alone. There's no way Adrien would want to devour our hearts." With a roll of her eyes, the dark-haired girl reprimanded.

"Yeah, he only eats the hearts of pretty girls, not _plain girls like us,_ " Alix said with a smirk.

The trolley arrived and Marinette hopped on.

She stood, holding onto the rail, as she waited to reach her stop. It wasn't far, only a minute or two long ride. When she reached her stop, she walked out. "Thank you." She muttered, smiling at the driver.

A crowd of people stood in the streets, watching a group of soldiers march. Marinette sighed. Soldier sightings had become a daily occurrence since the war started. It had been going on for so long, without an end in sight. She no longer remembered when or why it began, just that it had always been an inconvenience at best, and a complete nuisance at worst.

She slipped into an alleyway to avoid the chaos. She sunk her hand into her shoulder bag, and refiled around, looking for the Paris Daily's address. She rolled her eyes, she couldn't find the slip of paper anywhere. She pulled the bag off her shoulder and looked into it, walking as she searched, finally, her eyes landed on a piece of white parchment. She pulled it out of her bag. Suddenly, it was ripped out of her hand. She looked up to see a tall blonde soldier hovering over her, the address in his hand.

"Hey!" She said. She stood on her tiptoes and tried to grab the paper from his hands.

"What's a girl like you doing walking through alleyways alone?" The soldier said with a wicked look in his eyes.

"Please, give me back the paper." She begged.

The soldier gasped, feigning surprise. "That's no way to treat someone who fought for your country."

"Give me back the parchment." She demanded, her blue eyes blazing with fury, her patience beginning to wear thin.

He ignored her. "What's your name, doll?"

"I'm not telling you my name. Give me back my paper."

"My name's Felix. What's yours?"

"If I tell you, will you give me back the paper?" She groaned.

"Perhaps."

"Marinette." She muttered.

"That's an odd name, isn't it? So Marinette, where are you off to?"

"I'm just trying to visit my-" She felt an arm around her shoulder. She glanced up and met the gaze of a handsome grinning man. He had long, shiny honey blonde hair, and emerald green eyes. They had a certain feline, mischievous quality to them. His teeth were blindingly white, with sharpened canines. He wore the oddest coat, it was salmon pink with quilted blue diamonds. 

"I was looking everywhere for you, m'lady! Thank god, I found you, finally." The man said, like the two of them had known each other for ages. Marinette looked at him, her brows furrowed in confusion. He shot her a tight-lipped smile that seemed to say _go along with this_.

"Is he your-"

"Her boyfriend? Yes." The man interrupted. "Now, could you please give the lady her paper back?"

"You never said you had a boyfriend!" The soldier said as if _she_ had somehow mistreated him.

"You never gave me the chance."

The soldier begrudgingly handed Marinette the piece of parchment.

"Now scram." The strange man instructed, pointing his finger towards the direction the soldier came.

The soldier, without a word, walked away, stiffly, like a marionette doll forced to move by a puppeteer.

"How did you make him walk like that?" Marinette asked, scratching her head.

With a wave of his arm, he shrugged her off. "It's no big deal," She wanted to ask more, but decided not to.

"Now, where are we going, m'lady?" The man asked.

"I was just going to visit my friend at the Paris Daily."

"Great. I was on my way there anyways," The man said. "Well, I wasn't really, but, I am now."

"No need, you've already helped so much." Marinette said. It wasn't that she didn't want his help, she just felt rude asking more of him. He seemed to be a man of importance. One who likely had a lot he needed to do, a lot of damsels in distress he needed to rescue.

"Why, it's no big deal. You never know if you'll run into another boneheaded soldier, my ladybug," He offered her his hand. His fingers were long and slender, with sharp nails, resembling claws. "Walk with me."

She reluctantly took his hand. "Thank you."

The two started walking. "Don't be surprised if I'm followed. Just act natural."

Though she was confused, she nodded. She took a deep breath, and kept walking, ignoring the dark shadows trailing them. The man began walking quicker and quicker. Marinette started jogging as she tried to keep up with his swift pace. She kept her gaze forward, trying to avoid looking back at the strange black creatures following them. She felt something cold on the back on her heels. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the thing catching up to them, hot on their trail.

"They're closing in on us." Marinette whispered into the man's ear.

"I'm sorry for getting you involved." He said. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and leaped, pulling the two of them up into the air. They soared like birds, wind ruffling through Marinette's blue-black hair. His long coat fluttered through the air. A smile crept onto Marinette's face.

"Wow." She whispered, her eyes wide, taking in the world from a bird's eye view.

"It's wonderful, isn't it?" He said, casually, like this was an everyday occurrence.

"I mean, it must be incredible to have so much freedom."

"Incredible... but lonely." He said, smiling with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

They floated down to the cobblestone.

"Here you are." He said, taking his hands off her waist.

"T-t-thank you." She stammered, but by the time her words were out, he had already flown away. Amazement and disbelief, still stamped on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You met Adrien Agreste!" Alya shouted in disbelief.

"It wasn't Adrien Agreste. He was just a nice guy who helped me out." She blushed.

"I love you, Marinette, but god, you're oblivious! The coat? The blonde hair? The jade eyes-"

"They weren't jade, they were emerald."

Alya let out an exaggerated sigh. "He flew! Who cares what color his eyes were?"

"But he was so kind to me. There's no way he could be a heart-eating wizard." She shook her head in disbelief.

"That's how he reels you in. He comes in all nice and charming, so you'll let him in, and the next minute, he's eating your heart on a silver platter!"

"Well, don't worry. He only eats the hearts of beautiful women." She said, looking down.

Alya rubbed her brow, annoyed with Marinette's complete and total lack of self-esteem. "You met _Adrian Agreste_ and your takeaway was that you're ugly because he didn't kill you?" She rolled her eyes.

"You have to let me interview you for the paper!" Alya said, not waiting for a response.

"I don't think I want to. I don't wanna draw attention to myself. I mean... what if he comes back because I spoke about him?"

"Come on, Marinette, you know how big of a deal this is! This could be front page!"

"I'm sorry, Alya, but I think I just wanna go home and sleep this off."

"If you say so. Promise you'll tell me if you change your mind, though?"

"Of course, Alya." She smiled. She made her way back to the bakery, completely unaware of what would happen later that night.


	2. "adrien wouldn't eat the heart of a shriveled old lady."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Marinette arrives at the bakery, she meets Queen Wasp, a fearsome witch with a penchant for envy.

Marinette arrived back at the bakery. She took a deep breath as she sat back down at her workstation, still reeling from the events of the day. Had she really ran into Adrien Agreste? The most feared sorcerer in all of France? The eater of hearts, the destroyer of lives? It was impossible. Positively impossible. What would he be doing in Paris? Shouldn't he have been riding around in his moving castle, causing chaos? Though, it was a bit strange that he had flown. Marinette didn't have much experience with men, but she knew most weren't able to fly, nor were they followed by packs of shadows.

If she had met him, it had certainly confirmed her suspicions. She was just ordinary. He hadn't even tried to devour her heart.

She had wanted to sleep and decompress, but there was far too much work left on the cake for her to sleep just yet. She took the chocolate cake out of the freezer. and resumed her work on it.

She took a cup of fondant off of the shelf and pulled out a piece. It was soft and sweet-smelling, like a combination of candy and clay. She pinched the sides of the fondant, carefully to avoid squishing it, forming a rose. She finished and placed the rose next to the frosted tulip. Marinette breathed in and stepped back to admire her handiwork. A garden of frosting, fondant, and candy laid in front of her. Green icing was the grass, the flowers were frosting tulips, fondant roses, and sugar carnations. Marinette wiped her hands on her apron. “Perfect. You’re perfect.” She said, a soft smile spreading across her face.

“ _Ring_!” Went the bell above the door as it opened.

“Did you forget something, mom?” Marinette called out, taking off her apron and folding it on the counter. She walked out of the kitchen and went to the front of the shop. A woman, unlike any Marinette, had ever seen before stood in front of the register. She was gorgeous, in an otherworldly, alien sort of way. The kind of beauty that turns both heads and stomachs. Raven locks, with strands of platinum blonde, were piled on top of her head, black kohl lined her magenta eyes. Her deep violet lips were curled into a cruel smile. Her age was unclear, but she certainly was older than Marinette's eighteen years. She seemed to be centuries old.

Marinette was taken aback for a second, but she regained her composure. “I'm sorry, ma'am, we're closed. You could come back tomorrow if you'd like.” She said a polite smile on her face.

“I’ve heard quite a bit about you and your pastries, Ms. Dupain-Cheng.” The woman said, her voice loud, teasing in her tone.

“Thank you, I didn’t know I was famous,” Marinette said calmly, trying to keep the peace.

“I’ve heard that your macarons are simply _magical_." The woman purred.

"Oh, y-you're so kind. If you come back tomorrow, I can make you some." Marinette stammered. Her hands shook like an earthquake. A tsunami of sweat dripped down her forehead.

"I'm sorry, Dupain-Cheng, but I can't have another witch encroaching on my territory." A fake pout formed on her face.

"What? Witch? Your... territory?" Her heart beat so fast it could leap straight out of her chest.

"You're selling enchanted pastries in Paris. All clever witches know not to invade Queen Wasp's region." Marinette's face turned as white as a sheet when she heard the name _Queen Wasp_. First, she ran into _Adrien Agreste_ , the heart devourer, and now _Queen Wasp_ , the most wicked witch in all of France was standing in her pastry shop. She wanted to leave the shop. She wanted to run as far as she could. She wanted to flee the country. But all she could do was stand there, frozen with fear.

With all the courage she could muster, she stammered. "M-Ms. Wasp, I'm sorry, but y-you have to leave. The shop is closed." 

"I don't think I will leave just yet." Her pout turned into a wide grin. She flew towards Marinette, enveloping her in darkness. She soar back to the floor in front of the door.

"Tell Adri-kins I said hello." She blew a kiss and walked out of the bakery. She got into a carriage pulled by the shadow men who had followed Adrien and Marinette earlier.

Marinette looked down at her hand. But... it wasn't _her_ hand. Or, at least, it didn't look like _her_ hand. It was wrinkled and shriveled up, like a raisin. 

"What the?" She muttered.

She abandoned her cake and ran up the staircase, tripping over her own feet. It was a creaky and loud old thing, groaning with each step. She stepped into the bathroom and nearly screamed when she saw her face in the mirror. Her once blue-black hair was as grey as the clouds before a storm. Crow's feet were etched into the sides of her eyes, her skin sagged, and her back hunched over. She was old. Older than her mother, older than her grandmother. She must have been at least _ninety._ And everything hurt. Her joints creaked like the stairs, and her back felt like it was on fire.

 _"How could this have happened?_ " She thought to herself. And then it hit her. Queen Wasp had cursed her because of what happened with Adrien.

Shame crept into her. How could she let her family see her like this? It would be too hard, too embarrassing.

Suddenly, she knew what she had to do. She had to find Adrien Agreste and convince him to reverse the curse. What did she have to lose now? He only ate the hearts of pretty young girls, and now she was neither of those things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this one was so short! I wanted to get it out quickly, and I kind of liked the last line, so it's only a few hundred words this time! I promise I'll make the next one longer! Thanks for keeping with this story!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I'm still getting used to writing Adrien and Marinette, so I'm sorry if the characterization is off at first. I plan on updating by next weekend, hopefully. This fic will be a bit of a mix between Howl's Moving Castle by Dianne Wynne Jones and the Ghibli film adaptation, so some plot points will be inspired by the movie and some will be inspired by the film. Thanks for indulging in my weird Miraculous Moving Castle fantasy, haha!


End file.
